Parents are naming their babies after Pokémon Go characters

As Pokémon Go continues its global ambush on productivity, many are questioning the game’s staying power. Are we in the midst of a fad that’ll soon die down as quickly as it arrived or will the game stick around for the long haul?

While the answer isn’t immediately obvious, we do know that for some parents, the game’s influence will linger for many years to come. That’s because some people are borrowing from the Pokémon Go character set to name their newborns (yeah, you can’t make this stuff up).

According to BabyCenter, the names of some Pokémon Go characters have recently spiked in popularity. Fortunately, it isn’t quite as bad as it could be as parents are going with more subtle names like Evee, Onyx and Roselia, which have jumped 1,394 spots, 2,191 spots and 5,896 spots compared to a year ago, respectively.

That not a sheer coincidence, either. BabyCenter reports that in a recent survey, nearly 50 percent of the moms in its community said they are actively playing Pokémon Go.

Then again, one shouldn’t really be all that surprised as pop culture-inspired baby names are a regular occurrence. Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Frozen and House of Cards, the site says, have all served as inspirations for baby names in recent memory.

BabyCenter’s editor in chief said parents are always looking to pop culture for baby name inspiration and, right now, it doesn’t get hotter than Pokémon Go.